Critics: Hospital funds cut to the bone

Amanda Cuda

Published 11:16 pm, Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Hospitals in the state claim the budget proposed Wednesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will "devastate" them, cutting a total of more than $500 million in funding by fiscal year 2015.

The majority of the cuts would include payments hospitals are given to help fund uncompensated care. The state's rationale for cutting the payments is that, as federal health care reforms ramp up, there will be less uncompensated care at hospitals.

CHA President and Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Jackson issued a statement Friday saying she was "profoundly disappointed" by the proposal, which "significantly cuts hospital funding, shredding the state's health care safety net. ... The adminstration has acknowledged that these cuts will hurt hospitals, but that is an understatement. Quite simply, it will devastate them."

The network includes Danbury and New Milford hospitals. Rosenberg said the hospitals stand to lose $10.9 million in the first year of the proposed budget and $18.9 million in the second year, for a total of $30 million over two years.

The payments would be cut in half in Fiscal Year 2014, resulting in a reduction of $200 million.

There would be another reduction of $341 million in fiscal year 2015, which would totally eliminate the payments for uncompensated care. That's in addition to about $100 million in cuts made in December.

Rosenberg said the rationale about a drop in uncompensated care due to federal reforms doesn't entirely hold water, as hospitals will still, in many cases, be reimbursed for less than the cost of their services.

"There may be less uncompensated care, but there might be more under-compensated care," he said.

Dianne Auger, senior vice president of St. Vincent's Health Services, which includes St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, called the proposal "a huge blow." St. Vincent's could lose about $10.4 million in the first year of the budget and $16.8 million in the second year.

Like Jackson and Rosenberg, Auger said the cuts could severely damage hospitals' ability to provide quality care, particularly for low-income clients.

Even when health reform takes effect, she said, there will still be a significant number of people who still won't qualify for insurance, and these cuts will make it harder to serve them.

She said she's hoping that, if there's enough outcry, the state will hold back on the cuts.